Recipes

I picked up the most gorgeous baby eggplant – the size of Cadbury Creme Eggs and almost as delicious – at farmer’s market over the weekend. This recipe started with a plan to stuff the eggplant with the lamb rice mixture (inspired by this recipe) but that seemed too fussy once I started cooking. Instead,…

I improvised this salad for a beach picnic with the babies, my sister and cousin out in Pescadero last weekend. Flavorful, very healthy and even incidentally vegan – this recipe makes a huge quantity with plenty of leftovers to turn into quesadillas, nachos or taco salads throughout the week. The poblano gives it a nice…

I keep finding just a tiny bit more room in our freezer for more postpartum food. Here’s a menu with California farmer’s market summer flavors and lots of special ingredients to help new mothers heal and feed their new babies. 1. Ginger chicken soup with brown rice This soup includes postpartum super foods ginger, sweet…

This continues to feel like such a tender week in the world. Maybe it is just me being SO pregnant – but doesn’t it seem like everyone is making an effort to be a little more kind and helpful in the last few days? It is time to do good deeds and support each other.…

In pre-natal yoga last night, we talked about how the last few weeks of pregnancy are a “tender time.”  There’s sadness about the end of a special phase of life, pain, fear, worry, joy, frustration…all smushed together. All of America is in a tender time this week. Every day, the news brings breath-stopping heartbreak, but…

My doctor’s only real instruction for this pregnancy was to eat lots of salmon. Apparently the oily fish helps grow nice healthy babies and/or, she is skilled at giving patients something simple to worry about. It was never my favorite, but I’ve found all kinds of ways to prepare the fish. Especially as we head…

This is my new favorite pasta salad! So bright, flavorful and healthy. The recipe idea came to me as a mash-up of classic Morrocan preserved lemon and olive chicken tagine and Turkish kisir (tabbouleh salad).  Those delicious complex flavors of Mediterranean and North African cuisine – mint, preserved lemon, turmeric, olives, spieces and parsley –…

One of the best salads I’ve had was high up in the hills of Corfu at a restaurant in a mostly abandoned village. Just delicious sweet pieces of ripe orange topped with olive oil, paprika and sea salt. Now that I’ve found a source for the best oranges at Civic Center Farmer’s market here in…

Fresh herbs are my secret to always having something delightful to cook. Thanks to the farmer’s market here in the city, I can keep the fridge stocked with a rotating mix of mint, cilantro, oregano, green onions, parsley, dill, basil and more exotic bouquets most of the year for about fifty cents each. If you…

My new prenatal doctor’s only advice to me at the first appointment basically boiled down to “relax” and “eat salmon” – not so bad! I don’t particularly love salmon but do enjoy it in my favorite work-from-home lunch recipe for Japanese rice bowls. I swear, the recipe really takes just 15 minutes even though it…